Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/512

Rh I have obtained the muse from the cauldron of Caridwen;

I have been bard of the harp to Lleon of Lochlin.

I have been on the White Hill, in the court of Cynvelyn,

For a day and a year in stocks and fetters,

I have suffered hunger for the Son of the Virgin,

I have been fostered in the land of the Deity,

I have been teacher to all intelligences,

I am able to instruct the whole universe.

I shall be until the day of doom on the face of the earth;

And it is not known whether my body is flesh or fish.

Then I was for nine months

In the womb of the hag Caridwen;

I was originally little Gwion,

And at length I am Taliesin."

And when the king and his nobles had heard the song, they wondered much, for they had never heard the like from a boy so young as he. And when the king knew that he was the bard of Elphin, he bade Heinin, his first and wisest bard, to answer Taliesin and to strive with him. But when he came, he could do no other but play "blerwm" on his lips; and when he sent for the others of the four-and-twenty bards they all did likewise, and could do no other. And Maelgwn asked the boy Taliesin what was his errand, and he answered him in song.

Puny bards, I am trying

To secure the prize, if I can;

By a gentle prophetic strain

I am endeavouring to retrieve

The loss I may have suffered;

Complete the attempt I hope,

Since Elphin endures trouble

In the fortress of Teganwy,

On him may there not be laid

Too many chains and fetters;

The Chair of the fortress of Teganwy

Will I again seek;

Strengthened by my muse I am powerful;

Mighty on my part is what I seek,

For three hundred songs and more

Are combined in the spell I sing.

There ought not to stand where I am

Neither stone, neither ring;